Marshals and Yellowstone actor Mo Brings Plenty says his family wants justice for 1923 actor Cole Brings Plenty, but local police say it’s clear the 27-year-old acted alone.
Both sides are accusing the other of being less than forthcoming with evidence.
In addition to starring in Yellowstone and Marshals as Mo, advisor to Chief Thomas Rainwater, Mo Brings Plenty is a consultant for the shows and other Taylor Sheridan shows that involve American Indian plot lines. Cole Brings Plenty is described as a next generation storyteller and keeper of traditions.
What Happened to Cole Brings Plenty?
Cole Brings Plenty was reported missing on April 1 after a pair of incidents that took place a day prior. Reporting at the time told how he’d attended a concert in Lawrence, Kan. and somehow gotten his braids tangled in a microphone cable. Someone tried to untangle him by cutting his braids without his permission.
At about 1AM, he left the bar and went to a nearby apartment. That’s when police were called to investigate reports of a woman (not the same woman who cut his braids, per the L.A. Times) screaming for help. An affidavit was issued for his arrest and it was treated as a domestic violence incident.
The identities of the two women involved were never revealed. Police shared they had traffic camera footage showing Cole Brings Plenty leaving town soon after. Several days passed and on April 5, his body was found in a wooded area. Police would eventually say no foul play was suspected.
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That’s where the cops and Cole Brings Plenty’s family disagree.
“It has been suggested that Cole is on the run, but there is no evidence to support this claim, and we urge everyone to refrain from making unfounded speculations,” Mo wrote in a post shared to social media a day before the body was found.
Was Cole Brings Plenty Murdered?
Mo Brings Plenty classified his nephew’s death as murder while talking to the Hollywood Reporter. He says he saw the body and saw evidence that someone caught up with Cole.
“And for his murder to go uninvestigated, and for it to be written off as ‘no foul play,’ because they didn’t want to invest anything into it? It’s heartbreaking,” Mo Brings Plenty says. “Because we’re taxpaying people as well. So for them to not work for us, no different than how they work for anyone else is, is pretty sad.”
Mo Brings Plenty is also critical of law enforcement’s efforts to find Cole, saying they only showed urgency after he rented a helicopter and said he was going to search from the air. After the interview was published, Lawrence Police Department responded.
“The family chose not to release the facts,” Communication Manager Laura McCabe says adding that they’re willing to do so but have complied with those wishes.
Once the case concluded, the family petitioned the court to seal the autopsy report, medical examiner’s case file, law enforcement case files… and the Death Certificate of Cole Brings Plenty. The entire case contains clear evidence that there was no foul play involved in Cole’s death and that Cole acted alone.
This statement is supported by a late April 2024 article in the Kansas City Star that reports the same (via AOL).
Still, Mo says his family is pushing forward to learn the truth about what happened and hopes others will tell Cole’s story.
“It was a hard loss for us because this was an individual who was speaking our language, singing our songs and carrying on our traditions,” he tells THR. He was the future for us. We want more and more of our young people to be inspired to pick up who we are from a cultural perspective.”
